Our pal and do-everything-guy Eric Nolen-Weathington just got back from Charlotte, NC, where he manned our booth at Heroes Con (still one of our all-time favorite conventions). Here’s a big shout-out to everyone that came by the booth; sales were brisk, and according to Eric, the conversation was fantastic as usual at our booth.

Next up is the Big Kahuna: Comic-Con International in San Diego, from July 21-25. We’re frantically getting several new books and mags to press the next couple of weeks, so they’ll be on hand for the expected 125,000 attendees to scoop up. (Not that all 125,000 show up at our booth, but most days it FEELS like they’re all there at once!)

Before Comic-Con, BrickJournal editor Joe Meno and I will be at the BrickWorld LEGO convention in Chicago, and then I’ll be taking a week off with the family, plus working in a trip to the Grand Canyon with our kids on the way to Comic-Con. As usual, it’s going to be a fun, fast-paced summer, and will be over way too soon, but I plan to enjoy every hot, steamy minute of it, wherever I am. Hope you do too!

We’re about to go to press with Back Issue #42, our “Wild West Issue”, and had a perfectly lovely Tony DeZuniga cover illo of Jonah Hex all planned for it, when we designed it several months ago. But back then, we were working from a less-than-optimal scanned image, which worked fine for the small promotional images we use, but wouldn’t repro well at full size. We thought we’d be able to get a better scan by presstime, but alas, it didn’t happen.

So, the above is our NEW cover art for issue #42; still Tony DeZuniga art, still Jonah Hex, but one that’ll reproduce up to our standards. And hey, I think it’s arguably an even more dynamic cover than what we’d originally planned. Kudos to designer Michael Kronenberg for the new layout, and to editor Michael Eury for tracking down this alternative DeZuniga image.

And don’t miss the new interview with controversial Hex and Spectre writer Michael Fleisher in this issue. He’s been missing from the comics scene for around 20 years, and some people even thought he’d gone to the Great Beyond, but we’re happy to report he’s alive and well, and gives us great insight into his work on Jonah Hex.

This blog has been pretty quiet for some time, and below is a link to a news video that’ll give you an idea why.

http://news.mync.com/site/news/video/10838/

In addition to my regular chores keeping our various publications coming out on time, TwoMorrows has been organizing the BrickMagic Festival for LEGO Fans, which took place this past weekend. That video is of me appearing on our local NBC news station, during the two-day set-up for this massive event.

The sheer amount of work involved coordinating such an event was far more than I ever imagined (and I imagined a LOT of work ahead when we signed the papers with the hotel that hosted in last year). And we’ve still easily got a solid week of work just to clean it all up, send thank-yous, and hopefully get a little rest.

It was, by most accounts, an overwhelming success. The LEGO builders who came to display their creations seemed to have a great time during the private convention on Thursday and Friday. The vendors had some of the best (in some cases THE best) sales of any event they’ve attended. And the public came in droves, and were really impressed by the displays, special guests, and panels we assembled.

It wasn’t perfect. The event had some technical glitches early on Saturday morning, but a slew of volunteers helped up immeasurably in fixing the snags, and by Sunday, things were running very smoothly. We learned (and are continuing to learn, through feedback) so much that’ll help us make future events even better. And the final head count topped just over 8000 public attendees over the two-day public event—a response that still has all our heads spinning.

Hats off to everyone who took a chance by attending our first event, and especially to our volunteers, guest of honor Nathan Sawaya, all the AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO) who displayed their work, to Maria Anderson, Michelle Kaney, and Jennifer Kearney for their efforts above and beyond the call of duty, to Joe Meno for his perseverance, my Mom and Rich Meyer for hanging in there with me the whole time, and especially to my wife Pam, for the nonstop attention to detail that kept us all from falling apart during the long, hectic, but totally invigorating weekend. We’ll definitely be back again next year!

Note to TwoMorrows customers who use Paypal: Because of a bug between Windows 7 and Paypal, we’ve temporarily had to disable the Paypal payment option, due to the high volume of ticket customers for our BrickMagic Festival, who were having difficulties with Paypal.

All other payment forms (Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, and Check/money order) are still available for your purchases at www.twomorrows.com

We will be re-enabling Paypal again within two weeks, as soon as the BrickMagic Festival is over on May 10. Thanks for your patience.

Long time no post, but I’ll get back in the swing soon. But first, gotta mention that ALTER EGO is nominated for “Best Comics-Related Periodical” in the 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards! Congratulations to editor Roy Thomas, and the whole Alter Ego crew (Jim Amash, Chris Day, Bill Schelly, Paul Hamerlinck, Michael T. Gilbert, Marcus Swayze, and all the regular contributors) for their hard work paying off with this honor.

The awards ceremony takes place Friday, July 23 at Comicon International: San Diego. ALTER EGO won this award a couple of years ago, and we’ll be on hand to see if it wins again this year.

If you’re an industry professional (artist, writer, letterer, colorist, editor, publisher, inker, etc.), you can vote online at:

http://www.eisnervote.com/

Not a dream! Not an imaginary story or a hoax! AND DEFINITELY NOT AN APRIL FOOL’S JOKE! (We promise!)

Our copies of AGE OF TV HEROES just arrived from our printer late today (Wednesday), and we’ll be shipping them out over the next two days. If you preordered from us, look for yours in the mail soon. If you haven’t yet ordered it, you can go to http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=741 and place your order now, and save 15% off the cover price!

Age of TV Heroes examines the history of the live-action television adventures of everyone’s favorite comic book heroes! This handsome full-color hardcover features the in-depth stories of the actors and behind-the-scene players that made the classic super-hero television programs we all grew up with. From legendary shows like The Adventures of Superman and Batman, to the modern era of The Tick and Smallville, it’s colorfully presented in vivid detail, lavishly designed with a bevy of color photographs. Included are new and exclusive interviews and commentary from Adam West (Batman), Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman), Patrick Warburton (The Tick), Nicholas Hammond (Spider-Man), William Katt (The Greatest American Hero), Jack Larson (The Adventures of Superman), John Wesley Shipp (The Flash), Jackson Bostwick (Shazam!), and many more, including comments from Reb Brown, Stephen J. Cannell, Chip Kidd, Stan Lee, Noel Neill, John Romita, Alex Ross, Ilya Salkind, Lou Scheimer, Lorenzo Semple, Lyle Waggoner, and other actors, producers, and crew. Re-experience the pop culture birth of the super-hero phenomenon, and relive the first time that these heroes came to life on TV! Written by Jason Hofius and George Khoury, with a new cover by superstar painter Alex Ross!

Full-color HARDCOVER, $39.95 cover price

Thanks one last time for your continued patience on this book; it’s been a long wait for some of you, but the book is gorgeous, and I’m confident you’re going to love it!

AGE OF TV HEROES finally ships March 24! Yes, I know we’ve announced the release of this book something like 138 times since the original announcement back in 2006. Yes, at least one of the TV stars interviewed for the book has sadly passed away since then, never to see it in print. But all that embarrassment aside, this is one friggin’ awesome full-color hardcover book, and it’s FINALLY ON PRESS!

No really, believe it! All the legal hassles are cleared! Authors George Khoury and Jason Hofius have started dancing an Irish jig! And this puppy will be heading to stores and customers’ mailboxes by the end of this month.

Still don’t trust me? Check out the exclusive 12-page PDF Preview of the book here!

Been busy. Mondo busy. Working like crazy to get a huge batch of books and mags (including my own Jack Kirby Collector) to press, and in customers’ hands. Here’s what’s officially in the mail (and stores) now:

Modern Masters Vol. 24: Guy Davis

Sal Buscema: Comics’ Fast & Furious Artist (softcover, hardcover, and the oh-so-rare 52-copy Ultra-Limited Edition, each featuring a custom sketch by Sal; sorry gang, all the Ultra-Limiteds are sold already!)

Jack Kirby Collector #54

Alter Ego #92

If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, please be patient. The US Postal Service actually does have a few more pieces of mail to deliver than the ones we just dropped off at our local Raleigh, NC branch. (And man, with the number of pieces we just dropped off, you can believe we high-tailed it outta there after leaving them at the loading dock, lest some disgruntled postal employee decided to get gruntled on us, if ya know what I mean…)

But wait, there’s more! If you order by midnight tonight (and even if you don’t), we’ll be frantically working to get these extra items in the mail, all week long!

Back Issue #39

Modern Masters Vol. 22: Mark Buckingham

What’s that you say? Why is Volume 22 of the Modern Masters series appearing AFTER Volume 24? And what pray tell happened to Volume 23? Some things were meant to be kept a secret from mere mortals, my friend.

Fortunately, this ain’t one of them. See, each of the Modern Masters artists have different schedules, and we work around them as best we can, and still try to keep the series coming out in numerical order. Once in a while, things don’t go as planned, so Bucky’s volume ran a bit later than planned. Guy Davis’ is actually pretty much right on time. And unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts with Darwyn Cooke, we’ve been unable to complete Volume 23 as planned, so we’re having to reschedule it. We hope to have a new release date for the book shortly, so please stay tuned to our website, and thanks for your patience.

Now go order something!